Son of a Critch

Winner of the 2019 Margaret and John Savage First Book Award – Non-Fiction
Shortlisted for the 2019 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize
Longlisted for the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize
Shortlisted for the 2019 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour


A hilarious story of family, getting into trouble, and finding one's place in the world

What could be better than growing up in the 1980s? How about growing up in 1980s Newfoundland, which--as Mark Critch will tell you--was more like the 1960s. Take a trip to where it all began in this funny and warm look back on his formative years.

Here we find a young Mark trick-or-treating at a used car lot, getting locked out of school on a fourth-floor window ledge, faking an asthma attack to avoid being arrested by military police, trying to buy beer from an untrustworthy cab driver, shocking his parents by appearing naked onstage--and much more.

Best known as the "roving reporter" for CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Mark Critch has photo-bombed Justin Trudeau, interviewed Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle (while impersonating Alan Doyle), offered Pamela Anderson a million dollars to stop acting, and crashed White House briefings. But, as we see in this playful debut, he's been causing trouble his whole life.

Son of a Critch captures the wonder and cluelessness of a kid trying to figure things out, but with the clever observations of an adult, and the combination is perfect.